Strand-feeding machine



Dec. 1, 1925. 1,563,725

F. M. CLEAVELAND S TRAND FEEDING MACHINE Filed June :5, 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Jay/727 Dec. 1, 1925- 1,563,725

F. M. CLEAVELAND STRAND FEEDING MACHINE File June 2 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Fig-2. fz z I a H Patented Dec. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES FRED ML CLEAVELAND, OF WAKEFIELD,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FRED W.

GREEN, or IONIA, MICHIGAN.

STRAND-FEEDING MACHINE.

Application filed .Tune 3, 1922. Serial No. 565,731.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRED M. CLEAVELAND, of lVakefield, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Strand-Feeding Machines,of which the following is a specilication.

The invention relates to a strand feeding machine and especially oneadapted to feed strands of rattan to a strand finishing or shavingmachine like, for example, the machine shown and described in LettersPatent of the United States No. 216,723 of June 24,1879.

The object of the invention is to provide a mechanical feed for thestrand into the finishin machine in place of the manual feed hithertoemployed which calls for a high degree of operative skill and in anyevent is attended with considerable danger. In this connection it willbe explained that a strand finishing or shaving 1nachine, in order toproperly function, is continually run at a high speed. Consequently astrand manually fed into the machine is violently jerked fromthe handsof the operator. This calls for a high degree of skill in feeding thestrands and great care must be exercised for unless the strand beproperly release-d very painful. injuries will result. The essentialobject of the invention is to overcome these diflioulties.

The extreme care required in a manual feeding of the strandsnecessitates their slow feeding and consequently the finishing orshaving machine functions for a relatively short part of its runningtime. Another object of the invention is to quicken the feed and therebyincrease the operative elliciency of the finishing machine.

In fact the objects of the invention are to generally improve upon themanual feed.

The invention can best be seen and understood by reference to thedrawings, in which--- Fig. 1 is a side'elevation of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a. view in cross section, certain of the parts being shown inelevation.

ments later to be referred to, and

Flg. 4 1s a cross section on line t4 of Fig.3 is a plan'ofon'e of theunits or seg-' "of the feed rolls of the shaving mach ne. As willpresentlybe described, mechanism 7 is provided by which the belt may bein- Referring to the drawings: 1 represents the end portions to a pieceor strand of rattan arranged in the present *machine and, as will laterbe explained,

about to be fed by it between the revolving feed roll 2 and cooperatingpresser roll 3 of a shaving machine'like that referred to in theaforesaid patent.

Arranged to run at right angles to the line of the feed of the strandinto the rolls as aforesaid, is an endless carrier belt l. This belt ismade up of a number of individual parts or segments 5 pivotallyconnected by links 6 of suitable character.

The belt is supported by space-d sprocket wheels 7 and 8, respectively,around which the belt'turns, 9 representing the upper running portion ofthe belt and 10 the lower or under running portion thereof. Each of thesprocket wheels 7 and 8 is carried by a shaft 11 which turns in bearings12 supported by suitable standards, of which .13 represents the standardsupporting the bearings for the sprocket wheel 7 and 14 the bearings forthe sprocket wheel 8.

Each of the segments 5 of the belt presents an outer surface or face 15along which is cut a groove 16 running lengthwise the segment at rightangles to the path of the belt. Each of the grooves is adapted toreceive the end portion of a strand to be finished, the strand beinglaid within it. To assist in the retention. of the strand each groove isprovided with inwardly-inclined or beveled side edges 17 and 18,respectively, by Wedging contact with which the strand is held in place.

The strand portions 1 are laid in certain segments of the belt on theupper running portion 9 thereof lying back of a determinate station orpoint in front of the feed rolls of the shaving machine and the strandpoi tions are fed laterally in substantially paral lel lines to thispoint or station. In other words, each segment of the belt. as it passesalong the upper running portion thereof during the turningof the belt,will reach a determinate position where the groove 16 in the segment, orrather the strand 1 contained within the groove, will lie in fronttermittently turned so that each segment of the belt will in turn reachthe determinate position above referred to and dwell in such position asufficient time to enable the strand borne by the segment to be detachedtherefrom and fed into the feed rolls of the shaving machine. The lengthof the belt and its arrangement is such that there will always be anumber of segments on the upper running portion 9 of the belt back ofthe determinate position of the one segment from which the strand isfed, in order that the end portions of a number of strands may be laidin the grooves of such segments and eventually reach in turn thedeterminate position from which the strand is fed.

Reference will now be made to the mechanism for intermittently turningthe belt and also to the mechanism which co-operates therewith andfunctions to disconnect the strand from a positioned segment and to feedit into the feed rolls of the shaving machine.

Fixed to the shaft 11 of the sprocket wheel is a ratchet wheel 2O.Arranged to turn upon the same shaft between the ratchet wheel and oneofthe bearings 12 of the shaft is a feed crank 21. This crank carries aratchet clutch member 22 pivoted to it by a pin 23.and held inoperativeengagement with the teeth of the ratchet'wheel by a spring arm 2i fixedto the crank and backing the clutch member 22.

The feed erank 21 is operated from oli' a shaft 25 turning within abearing 26 and 0p erated by any suitable source of power, not shown. Theshaft 25 c'arriesa disk or web 2'? bearing a crank pin 28 ecce'ntricallyarranged. Journalled to this pin is a rod 29 which connects with thefeed crank 21 by means of a bolt and nut connection 30. At the pointwhere the rod is connected to the arm the arm is provided with a slot 31for purposes of adjustment. By these means the carrier belt is operatedas the shaft 25 is turned; the proportioning, arrangement andadjustability of the parts being such that the belt will be turnedintermittently just such distance as will successively bring eachsegment of the belt into the determinate position above noted in frontof the feed rolls of the shaving machine and enable it to dwell in suchposition a snifieient time as will permit of the delivery of the strandborne by the segment into the feed rolls of tbe shaving machine. v 1

The strand in any segment of the beltpositioned in front of the feedrolls of the shaving machine removed from the segment and fed into thefeed rolls elf-the see ing machine during the period of the dwell of thesegment as follows. I y Seeuredtothe' era-11k pin. 2803 the shaft 25 isaweb 32 havinga crankpin 33' eccentric to the shaft and locateddiametrically opposite the pin 28. Journalled to the pin 33 is a link 35pivotally connected to the lower end of a bar 36 slidably arranged in avertical guide 37 on a standard 35, the arrangement being such that thebar 36 is movable endwise up and down within the guide as the crankshaft is turned. The bar 36 lies adjacent the side of the belt and hassecured to it an arm 39 which extends crosswise beneath the upperrunning portion 9 of the belt and immediately below the point or stationoccupied by that segment from which the strand is to be delivered.Secured to the arm 39 are sets of spaced lingers l0 and ll each setbearing between them a grooved roll The lingers extend upwardly by therespective ends of the positioned segment and the arrangement is suchthat when the bar 36 is lifted the wheels L2 will be brought intocontact with the strand and lift it out of the segment. On the returnmovement of the bar 36 the lingers and rolls 4-2 carried by them willdrop into an outof the way position below the top running surface of thebelt or where they will not interfere with the strands carried by thebelt during its forward movement.

Arrangec'l upon the forward end of the arm 39 on the delivery side ofthe belt is a spring arm. l3. Carried by this arm is a grooved idlerroll 44. This roll occupies a position in exact alignment with thegroove 16 in that positioned segment from which the strand is delivered,the roll lying just below the line of the strand which is placed withinthe segmentwith the end thereof extending so far to lie above the roll.Located above the roll as is a feed roll driven by a pulley 46, bothroll 45 and pulleybeing arranged'upou a shaft .1-? which turns in;bearings d8 on a frame e2;- tcnsion lflto the standard 13. In theoperation of the machine the feed roll 4-5 is driven at a speedsubstantially equal to that of the feed rolls to the shaving machine towhich the strand is delivered. lVhen the arm 35) is raised forliftingthe strand out of the segment, the roll l4; will also be lifted andthereby lift the end of the strand into contact with the feed roll 525which there upon feeds the strand into the feed rolls of the shavingmachine. All the strands are so placed in the segments that their endswill project sufficiently to lie above the roll. 4-1 when the strandsare brought into position for discharge so that they may be engaged bythis roll and fed hi: the roll; l5 as aforesaid. It will also beobserved that when the strand lifted out of the pos tion-ed segment itisheld in proper aligned positio-n'to be fed by the roll 45 into the feedrolls of the shaving machine. The strand will then rest upon the rollse2 with strand being then taken care of in turn by the machine.

Inasmuch as the strands vary in length, it is necessary that the machinebe so timed that the dwell of the carrier will be so long as to permitof the feeding of the longest strands from any segment of the carrierpositioned as aforesaid.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secureby. LettcrsPatent of the United States:

1, In a strand-feeding machine, the combination with an operatingmechanism, of a movable carrier for receiving and holding the endportions of a number of strands arranged separate from one another onsubstantially parallel lines andapplied to the carrier to extendcrosswise it with permitted detachability therefrom, means forintermittently operating the carrier whereby each of the strands carriedby it will be moved laterally to reach and occupy in turn a determinateposition with dwell of the carrier when the strand is occupying suchdeterminate position, means for detaching each strand positioned asaforesaid from the carrier during the dwell of the carrier, and meansfor feeding the detached strand.

2. In a strand-feeding machine, a movable carrier for receiving andholding the end portions of a number of strands ar ranged separate fromone another on sub-- stantially parallel lines and applied to thecarrier to ext-end crosswise it with pcrmitled detachability therefrom,means for intermittently operating the carrier whereby each of thestrands carried by it will be moved laterally to reach and occupy inturn a determinate position with dwell of the carrier when the strandoccupying such. determinate position, means for detaching each strandpositioned as aforesaid from the carrier during the dwell of the carrierand loosely holding the strand in position for feeding, and means forfeeding the detached strand.

3. In a straml-feeding machine, a n1ov able carrier for receiving andholding the end portions of a number of strands arranged separate fromone another on substantially parallel lines and applied to the carrierto extend crosswise it with permit ted detachability therefrom, meansfor intermittently operating the carrier whereby each of the strandscarried by it will be moved laterally to reach and occupy in turn adeterminate position with dwell of the can rier when the strand isoccupying such determinate position, means for detaching each strandpositioned as aforesaid from the carrier during the dwell of thecarrier, loosely holding the strand in position for feeding and guidingthe strand during the feeding, and means for feeding the detachedstrand.

4. In a strand-feeding machine, the combination with an operatingmechanism, of a movable'endless carrier having a number of connectedstrand-bearingunits, each of said units having an open groove withinclined sides extending across the face of the unit and in which theend of'a st and is contained, means for intermittently operating saidcarrier whereby each of its units and strand carried by it will reachand occupy in turn'a. determinate position on the upper running portionof said carrier during the operation thereof with dwell of the carrierwhen said unit and strand carried by it is occupying said determinateposition, means for lifting each strandpositioned as aforesaid out ofthe groove in the unit containing it during the dwell of the carrier,and means for feeding the detached strand.

5. In a strand-feeding machine, the combination with an operatingmechanism, of an. endless carrier having a number of connectedstrand-bearing units, each of the units being adapted to receive andhold with permitted detachability the end of a strand applied to theunit to extend crosswise it, means for intermittently operating thecarrier whereby each of its units and strand carried by it will reachand occupy in turn a determinate position in the path of the carrierduring the operation thereof with dwell of the carrier when said unitand strand carried by it are positioned as aforesaid, means fordetaching each strand positioned as aforesaid from the unit carrying it,loosely holding the strand in position for feeding and guiding thestrand during its feed ing, means for intermittently operating saidlast-named means to function during the dwell of the carrier, and meansfor feeding the detached strand.

6. In a strand feeding machine the combination comprising a driven feedroll, a movable carrier for receiving and holding the end portions of anumber of strands arranged separate from one another and an plied to thecarrier to extend crosswise the carrier and be detachable therefrom,means for supporting and arranging the carrier whereby each strandcarried by it will in turn reach and occupy a determined position in thepath of the carrier and adjacent said driven roll during the operationof the carrier, means for operating the carrier whereby each strandcarried by it will in turn be positioned as aforesaid with accompanyingdwell of the carrier, means for detaching each strand positioned asaforesaid from the carrier during; the dwell of the carrier and meansfor moving the detaching strand into contact with said driven feed roll.

7. In a strand feeding machine, the combination comprising a driven feedroll, an endless carrier for receiving; and holding the end portions ofa number of strands separately arranged and extending crosswise thecarrier, means for supporting; and arranging the carrier whereby eachstrand carried by it will in turn reach and occupy a determinatepositionin the path of the carrier and adjacent said roll during the operationof the carrier, means for operating the carrier whereby each strand willin turn be positioned as aforesaid with accompanying dwell of thecarrier, and means for detaching; each strand positioned as aforesaidfrom the carrier during" the dwell of the carrier, retaining thedetached st and in position to be, fed and moving the same into contactwith said feed roll whereby it will be fed thereby.

8. In a strand-feeding machine, the combination comprising a driven feedroll, an endless carrier for receiving and holding the end portions of anumber of strands separately arranged and extending crosswise thecarrier with ends projecting laterally there from whereby each strandcarried by it will in turn reach and occupy a determinate position inthe path of the carrier adjacent said feed roll during the operation ofthe carrier, means for intermittently operating the car rier wherebyeach strand will in turn be positioned as aforesaid with accompanyingdwell of the carrier, means adapted when operated to detach each strandpositioned as aforesaid from the carrier during the dwell of thecarrier, hold the detached stand in position for feeding and enide thestrand during its feeding, means for operating said last-namedmeansintermittently to function during the dwell of the carrien andmeans carried by said strand-detaching, holding and guiding means formoving the strand into contact with said feed roll whereby it will befed thereby.

FRED M. CLEAVELAND.

